one typist in the 21st century

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Tuesday, May 9, 2017

At a recent Maker's Faire in California, a loyal agent of the typewriter insurgency and her son brought a set of typewriters. Here's a succinct report:

More details: "It was fun to see a couple of kids discover typewriters and really take to it right away. One boy spent about an hour on 3 different typewriters, being really focused. A lot of notes to moms, dads and grandmas were written. One little girl wrote a beautiful note to her teacher whose husband just passed away. About 5 preteen girls were really into writing notes to their friends—like texting.
Out typewriters were right next to a station where the kids could tear apart computers. So many were fascinated to see and basically understand how the typewriters worked as opposed to computers which seemed more abstract."

4 comments:

Abstract indeed! Nothing against you wonderful computer people (Dan Johnson, Brian Brumfield, others...) yall are wizards for sure and I am in awe. But typewriters are much more accessible initially. That was a huge part of the draw for me.

man, you take typers anywhere and they're people magnets. always amuses me when people say they want to hold a type-in, but they're worried nobody will show up. we know you can set 5 typers on a table in any public space and draw a flash crowd of typists in minutes. :D

Typewriters attract kids by nature. I am fascinated with typewriters since I was three years old (1994), when I used to visit with Mom government's offices and some banks, and I used to get hipnotized-like by the sound and the action of dozens of mechanical typewriters (all them were Olympias SG 3 from the 70's, 80's and early 90's, and sometimes a rare Olivetti Linea 98 from time to time). Impossible to get bored with such an action there. Now, offices and banks are so quiet that I get sleepy almost immediately after entering one. :3

The first time when I saw a computer I was five years old (1996). They were square, huge, white, with a CPU that reminds one of a primitive Betamax VCR (but with diskette drive instead of the tape recorder), with a keyboard that looked like an electronic typewriter (electronic typewriters always awed me due to its complexity) and with a screen similar with a TV that only showed lots of letters on a black background (Mexico, my country, always have been outdated regarding high technology). I thought "they are so complicated, so hard to handle... and so expensive..." The first time I could have a computer was until 2000, at age 9, and I didn't know how to use it from scratch... And despite it already was old when Mom bought it (it was thought -for us- to be other more device, like TV or a refrigerator...), its prize was very high. That computer lasted just 15 years. :P

On the other hand, I discovered there are typewriters working since the beginning of the 20th century. That's amazing indeed. It's like working with a piece of our history. Besides, what make typewriters awesome is the fact they are mechanical (or electro-mechanical), and you can appreciate the way they work (like vinyl records or tapes, or wind-up clocks)! :D

What I love about mechanical typewriters is the fact that what you have been written doesn't need to be "saved on a disk". It remains on the paper. So, I can use it without electricity as much as I want. :P

I bet those kids will have lots of fun with a typewriter at their homes. xD